Bed-cover support.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BED-CHO'VER SUPPORT.

. Specificatioriof Iietters Patent. Am an fil d February 3,1904. Seria1'No.191,849.

r mmed Oct. so, 1906.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOGAN E. BLECKLEY, of Olarkesville, in the county of Habersham, State of Georgia, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Bed-Cover Supports, of which the following is a complete specification, reference being had to the ac companying drawings. 1

The object of my invention is to produce a light, cheap, practicable, and widely-adjustable support for bedclothing. by the use whereof the occupant of a bed may be relieved of the weight of superincumbent clothing without loss of the warmth which the bedclothing is intended to conservein and. about the body of the said occupant.

' I have discovered that in practice insomnia'may be relievedand the general health of a person improved by providing means for keepin the body covered and protected by the be clothing, but free from the oppressive wei ht thereof. I regard also the exposure of t e body directly to the atmospheric covering included under the bedclothing and about the body to be productiv'eof beneficial results.

My present invention is intended not only to afford in practice means for arriving at the general objects above enumerated, but also.

to afford ready and convenient means for changing the position of the support during the time it is operatively employed for the performance of its functions.

The object last referred to is secured by the wide range of adjustability of the members which compose the support.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view of one form of embodiment of my bedclothes-support installed in one of its operative positions asin use, showing a portion of the mattress and the bedcover in outline; Fig. II is a perspective view of the support shown in Fig. I adjusted, by wa of illustrating its wide range of adjustability, into a different operative position from that shown in Fig. I. Fig. III shows the support shown in Figs. I and II collapsed and folded, and Fig. IV illustrates 'in perspective a modified-form of embodiment of my invention.

Referring to the numerals on the drawin s, and first with reference to Figs. I to II thereof, inclusive, 1, 2, and 3 indicate pne set of terminal members, and 4, 5, and 6 the other set of terminal members, which united with each other and with the members of the first headed in oririvet 9:. in Fig. Besides the joint represente by of embodiment of my bed-cover support.

. The members 1, 2, and 3,being preferably of uniform length and designed to rest :upon the surface 7 of the bed or the mattress, might be designated as the legs and the parts 4, 5, and;

6, being designed to support the cover 8, might be designated as the supporting-arms were it not for the fact that the'position of the device may be in practice reversed. The free ends of the several terminal members project unobstructedly, so-that they may severally engage the mattress and the bedclothes, and thereby hold themselves and that which they support in the position to which they are adjusted. v

Inonder to secure that degree of universal adjusta-bility whereby the device may be readily accommodated to its office, I prefer to unite the severalmernbers one to another,

plreferably in the manner hereinafter specied, byflexi.ble joints, such as may be simply and efficiently constructed of a double- (Shown, for exam 1e,

the rivet 9, which flexibly connects the members 1 and 6, I employ a like joint 10, connecting the members 6 and 3, a joint 1 1, connecting the members 3 and 5, a joint 12, connecting the members 5 and 1, and a joint 13, connecting the members 2 and 4.

I prefer to locate the several joints above specified in irregularly-staggered arrangement relatively to a horizontal plane represented by the mattress 7 and also to provide, as illustrated, for the swing or movement of each member in a plane angularl dis osed with respect to the plane in whic eac one of the other members swings or moves. By this provision a range of adjustability of the parts of practically unlimited extent and diversity is secured.

I prefer to provide at least one of the membersfor example, the member 6With a laterally-projecting arm 15, flexibly united at one end, as indicated at 16, to the member 6 and supported as by a flexible brace consisting of a pair of members 17 and 18, flexibly united to each other, as indicated at 19, and in like manner united to the arm 15 and to the member 6, respectively, as indicated at 20 and 21.

In Fig. IV, I illustratea somewhat similar but simpler form of embodiment of my invention having by reason of its'sim licity a more constricted range of adjustabity, but

set constitute one, and that a preferred,form

nevertheless available in large measure for I accomplishing the objects of my invention.

Referring to the numerals on that figure of the drawings, 22and 23 indicate onepair of members, and 24 and 25 another'pair. The members 23 and 24 being conjoined, as by a sliding sleeve 26, and the members 22 and 25 being flexibly united, as by a hinge 27 the said members are, in effect, united into a pair of supports assembled shearwise, a-s-by a double-headed pinor-- rivet 28, which directly connects the-members 24 and 25. The opposite-ends29 and-30 of the members 22 and 25" being'held. inoperative juxtaposition to each I other constitute, in effect, shoulders to-the hinge 27 and serve to limit the flexibility thereofin one direction.

3 1 indicates aprojecting arm correspond ing to the arm 15, previously described; It is pivoted, as indicated a-t'32,.-tox the member 23- and is provided with a flexible brace 33, corresponding in all respects to that composed of the members 17 and 18, as-previouslya' specified;

The device shown in Fig. IV is, like that shown in the remaining figures, collapsible and expansi-bleinto a support; The means of flexible union are shown asmodified there= in, and i the sets of supporting members are reduced'in: number to two instead of three,

exclusive of: the laterally projecting arm,

whiehyis common to both forms. in Ei foot orthe form-of embodiment of'my sup,- port shown-therein; but the-device may be reversed, and the arm 31 may be thereby caused to perform the identical function performed by the arm 15.

In practice my device may be adjusted to any position which the comfort or inclination of the user may require and may be adjusted and shifted in position to suit its various adjustments at the will of the manipulator.

What I claim is- 1. A bed-cover support consisting of a plurality of members flexibly attached to each other attheirends to constitute an expansible and'collapsible unit.

2. In a bed-cover support the combination with a plurality of members flexibly attached to each other, of a laterally-projectingarm movablysecured: to one of said members, said arm constituting-anextensible and co].- lapsible part thereof.

3. In a bed-cover support the combination of two sets of members expansibly and collapsibly united nea'rtheir'endsto constitute an adjustably-operative unit;

4. In a bed-coversupport, the combination of-two sets of=members, the ends'ofone set being flexibly attached to'the' ends" of the other set so -as to constitute an expansible and collapsibleunit.

Intestimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name. As shown IV, the arm 31- constitutes, in effect, a i

LOGAN E. BLECKLEY. Witnesses:-

JOSEPH I2. ATKINS, MARY A. WILsoN. 

